BEACH PATROL Associate Rabbi Hanniel Levenson starts each day with a walk on Main Beach.
practicing member of the clergy, and, since late last summer, as associate rabbi at The Jewish Center of the Hamptons, has been integrating his own modern take on Judaism into the synagogue’s community. This season, he’s added a program that relies on some of his secular fields of expertise—like yoga and personal training, which he’s been accredited to teach since 2008; meditation; and a fervent love of the beach—into the center’s offerings. Some of what’s included, like regular ThursdayFinding night gatherings, are held on Georgica inspiration: Vintage Pink. “It’s Beach; other outdoor gatherings, like a a nice tchotchke weekly yoga class on Thursdays, are held on store. I go there the synagogue’s grounds. Indoors, there are [for] my incense communal get-togethers that use The Jewish and charms.” Center in unorthodox ways, such as a bareIt’s a dog’s life: foot Saturday-afternoon yoga session in the Levenson starts main sanctuary, right near the Torah and hot every day with a walk on Main Vinyasa Flow yoga on Wednesdays. “I don’t Beach with his know how many people have been in a sancdog, Yoyo, a tuary with their shoes off, but the tradition is rescue pit bull mix. that the whole ground is holy,” he says. “Moses took off his shoes at the Burning Bush because the ground is holy.” For Levenson, blending religion with his other passions—like fitness, art, and the environment—is a logical evolution. While studying for his ordination, he taught yoga; he also has a master’s degree from Bard’s Center for Environmental Policy. During the winter months, he commutes between the Hamptons and Bushwick, where he paints large colorful canvases that have been exhibited in gallery spaces in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Although some purists might see integrating Judaism and yoga as unkosher, Levenson disagrees. “I see yoga as a form of prayer,” he says. “Prayer can be a daunting ASSOCIATE RABBI HANNIEL LEVENSON COMBINES SECULAR thing. My experience has been that the way into a deeper STUDIES WITH THE JEWISH CENTER OF THE HAMPTONS’ spiritual practice is to start with a stretch of the body.” Levenson’s goal is, ultimately, the same as that of most RELIGIOUS PRACTICE. BY RACHEL FELDER clergymen: to offer people an accessible, unintimidating, and meaningful environment in which to connect to both eet Associate Rabbi Hanniel Levenson and he’s just as likely to be God and society. “It’s just about bringing the community together in all differwearing flip-flops and a tank top as a dark suit and yarmulke; he’s in a ent places and in all different ways, which is what I think a Jewish center is yoga pose as often as he’s immersed in Talmudic prayer; and, at 32, about,” he says. “I want to offer different pathways in.” 44 Woods Lane, East he’s decades younger than the majority of rabbis. But Levenson is, indeed, a Hampton, 324-9858; jcoh.org H
INSIGHT
M 60
PHOTOGRAPHY BY ZEV STARR-TAMBOR
A Hamptons Sanctuary
HAMPTONS-MAGAZINE.COM
060_H_SP_BPHaniel_SuperSaturday_14.indd 60
7/16/14 7:03 PM